[Childcare] Recommended for 3-year-olds! Origami ideas with a winter theme
In childcare settings for three-year-olds who are beginning to learn finger play and how to use toys, origami is often used.
Some of you may be looking for origami instructions that match the winter season, which brings various events like Christmas and playing in the snow.
In this article, we’ve picked simple, low-step origami ideas with a winter theme.
It’s also a great idea to display the pieces made together with friends at the nursery school.
Prepare colorful origami paper and try winter origami that lets children’s creativity flourish.
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[Childcare] Recommended for 3-year-olds! Origami ideas with a winter theme (21–30)
Easy and cute! Origami snow rabbit daruma
This is a rabbit snowman made with two sheets of origami paper! First, we’ll make the head: fold the paper twice to make a small triangle.
Then unfold one fold so it’s folded only once, and roll-fold the base of the triangle about 1 cm.
Next, leave a small gap in the center and fold both corners straight up.
These will be the rabbit’s ears, so fold the top corners into small triangles to round them off.
Fold the left, right, and bottom corners inward to tidy the outline, then flip the paper over.
Fold the corner at the base of the ears to the back to finish the head.
For the body, do a cushion fold (zabuton fold), flip the paper over, and do another cushion fold.
Finally, fold the square into a triangle and you’re done! Glue the two parts together and draw the face to finish.
Origami Plum Blossoms Kids Can Enjoy—Perfect for New Year’s Too!
Free-thinking sparks children’s creativity! It’s a great idea that lets kids enjoy both the focus of folding origami along lines and corners, and the excitement of tearing it dynamically.
Use the torn origami as beautiful branches, then stick on carefully folded plum blossoms to create your very own plum tree.
Drawing the pistils and stamens with crayons or colored pencils will help capture the distinctive features of plum flowers even more.
Take this opportunity to give it a try!
Cute Daruma origami
Auspicious! Making colorful daruma with the children and lining them up as decorations would instantly brighten up the room, wouldn’t it? Daruma are often displayed as New Year’s ornaments, and it’s said their origin as lucky charms comes from their characteristic of getting back up even after they fall.
It’s also lovely to make them with origami in the children’s favorite colors.
However, since the colors of daruma each carry meaning, it can be a great time to deepen learning while crafting.
This is a recommended idea for preschool classes, so be sure to give it a try.
Snowflakes
Making snowflakes by folding paper and cutting slits is a lovely winter activity.
As children and teachers think together about what kinds of cuts to make, it can help nurture creativity.
Since they’re made with square origami paper, it also helps develop fine motor skills.
It’s also nice to learn about winter nature while observing the finished snowflakes.
Using colorful origami will brighten up the atmosphere of the nursery.
Displaying the pieces the children made with their friends will make them even happier!
Winter origami! Cute kotatsu
Here is an introduction to making a kotatsu out of origami.
First, fold a sheet of origami paper in half in the color you like.
Since it’s a kotatsu, a patterned paper might be cuter.
Then fold back about one-third.
After folding, unfold it, fold it to half that width, and return it.
On the back side, fold back one-third as well.
Next, fold the back diagonally to create the kotatsu’s slope, and the main body is complete.
Now make the tabletop for the kotatsu.
Use a quarter-size sheet of origami paper for this.
Next, make the mandarin orange, which is essential for a kotatsu.
This one is very small, so have an adult help you.
Festive! Cute origami sea bream
Let’s make a lively sea bream that looks ready to swim away any moment! Sea bream are known to live long among fish, so they’re often eaten at celebrations and events as a wish for longevity.
What’s more, because the word “omedetai” (congratulatory) contains the sound “tai,” sea bream are considered lucky and are sometimes displayed for New Year’s as well.
This time, let’s make a sea bream out of origami and start a wonderful year! You’ll need one 15-cm square of red origami paper, one 7.5-cm square, round stickers or eye-shaped cutouts, scissors, glue, and a pen.
Some steps are a bit complex, so take your time and finish it carefully!
Great for walls too! Recommended origami for January
Let’s make New Year–themed items using washi-patterned origami and chiyogami.
The video features hagoita paddles, spinning tops (koma), kagami mochi, daruma dolls, and shuttlecocks (hane).
The ideas are full of exciting touches for kids—like customizing the daruma’s face to match the zodiac animal or freely choosing origami colors for the shuttlecocks.
When decorating indoors, you can get creative by mounting them on construction paper or stringing them together like a garland!